1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an instant game ticket (otherwise known in the art as a “scratch ticket”). The invention further relates to lottery gaming wherein a physical instant game ticket may be purchased and verified at a lottery agent location or other suitable locations, the ticket utilizing a gameplay that provides prizes based on two separate symbol sets and one common grid. In a separate embodiment, the instant scratch ticket may be electronic and displayed on a monitor screen.
2. Background of the Art
For nearly 50 years, scratch tickets have been offered for sale as part of state and national lotteries. These tickets typically have an array of winning numbers and an array of player numbers, each concealed by a removable film. The player scratches off the film to reveal the numbers. If a winning number matches a player number, a prize is won. A major drawback lies in the simplicity of the typical game—simply scratching and matching numbers can get boring. Another drawback is that these simple games are very quick, hence the term “instant ticket”. To remedy that time-to-play element, extended play tickets have recently become popular, although a large number of players find these tickets too tedious for instant gratification. A dedicated smaller number of players, however, find these tickets irresistible. In Massachusetts, the country's most lucrative lottery in terms of revenue, the most popular ticket is the extended play $2 Cashword®, although it is estimated that only 15%-20% of players choose to play them.
Scratch ticket games are provided wherein a predetermined number of tickets are printed, each ticket providing either a losing result or a winning result. The amount of tickets with losing results is predetermined, as are the number of tickets with winning results. Also predetermined is the number of tickets for each individual win amount. The total amount of awards of the winning tickets will be less than the total cost of all tickets in the game. For instance, a total of 90,720,000 $5 tickets may be printed and sold. The total ticket sales will be $453,600,000. The total payout to players may be $345,471,000.
Since the revenues from scratch ticket sales benefit cities, towns and schools, states in particular have a vested interest in providing new and exciting games that will keep the players buying the tickets and playing the games.
Various attempts have been made to create new instant games with unique gameplay that may take longer to play in order to increase player participation and enjoyment.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,672,325 (Green) discloses methods and apparatus for playing an instant win gaming ticket wherein the instant win gaming ticket has multiple instant win games that can be played by the player. The amount won per game is dependent on the results of at least one previous game on the same ticket. The player plays the games on a single ticket and the amount the player wins for each game depends on whether previously played games on the same ticket were won or lost. A drawback of this method is the requirement of previous wins in order to win greater awards.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,512,123 (Stanek, et al.) provides a method and associated lottery game card/ticket for implementing a ticket-based, multi-component lottery game and includes providing lottery tickets for players, wherein the lottery tickets include a first game component with a first prize structure and at least one additional game component with a separate second prize structure. In particular, the hybrid ticket comprises two components: a standard instant ticket game and an additional game that is an interactive game over the internet. A separate validation code is provided for each game component. This method is of a disadvantage to players who are not internet-savvy, or who have no access to the internet. In addition, a player who prefers a truly instant win would most likely not be drawn to the method.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,333,380 (Berkowitz) discloses an instant lottery ticket game wherein a scratch-off material is removed from a first playing area of the ticket, and if three or more like kind outcome indicia are revealed, the ticket is a winner; however, if three or more like kind outcome indicia are not revealed in the first playing area, a scratch-off covering material is removed from a second playing area to reveal a “Bonus” prize award, so that every ticket is a winning ticket. A disadvantage to this method is that by providing a guaranteed win on each ticket, the prize structure must necessarily offer less frequent amounts of larger prizes, or smaller jackpot amounts.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,004,506 (Downes et al.) discloses a lottery ticket having a first game area having at least one row with each row containing a plurality of play indicia and a second game area adjacent each row of the first game area and containing a target indicia which if present may result in a prize being won. The second game area is not a separate game, but rather is merely an area displaying the terms of a win in the adjacent row.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,698,755 (Cherry) teaches a lottery-type game of chance for a plurality of players that employs pulltabs, at least some of the pulltabs comprising one or more immediate instant win award indicators. Some of the pulltabs comprise a bonus ticket symbol that entitles the holder to receive a set of bonus tickets. Some of the bonus tickets have printed on them one or more instant win awards. The bonus tickets do not guarantee a win.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,576 (Stancik, et al.) discloses a lottery-type game of chance for a plurality of players employs break open tickets, at least some of the tickets having printed on them game symbols that provide one or more instant win awards. The awards are covered, prior to play, with one or more removable cover members such as flaps or scratch-off seals. Some of the tickets include one or more eligible game symbols that entitle the ticket holder to enter a bonus round of play. The instant-win game symbols are not displayed in a same row as those of the eligible game symbols, and so there is no relationship between the two symbol games.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,524 (Nannicola) discloses a mountain climbing theme game employing seal cards or scratch off cards to indicate which player will be eligible to ascend to a further level in the game. In addition to providing a separate, unrelated instant win, this method allows the player to advance to further levels by choosing a scratch-off area that may or may not contain the one advancement symbol guaranteed in each play level. Each successive play level provides progressively higher awards. A downside of this method is that the player may feel frustrated with choosing the wrong symbol area to scratch, knowing that a different choice may have provided awards or kept him in the game.
Each of the references discussed in this text art are incorporated herein in their entirety for all purposes.
It is an objective of the present invention to remedy the deficiencies in the prior art, and to provide players with new and enticing gameplay features that will stimulate player interest and increase participation in instant lottery games. It is also a goal of the present invention to provide an instant ticket game that takes a somewhat longer time to play than the traditional scratch-and-match ticket, yet not as long as a typical extended play ticket such as Cashword® or Bingo®.